Robin Haase reaches the semi-finals at the Rogers Cup

"I'm going to try and recover and enjoy the win today before preparing for tomorrow's match".

Federer advances to the semi-finals where he will face Robin Haase of the Netherlands, who defeated Diego Schwartzman 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 earlier in the day. In the victory, Federer won 81 percent of his first serve points and 72 percent of his second serve points. "I also told him that this is just the first match of very, very many that we will play against him".

Federer posted his seventh consecutive win over the Spaniard and improved his season record to 34-2.

It will be just the second career meeting between the two.

In a widely circulated photo from the 2008 Rogers Cup, a then-nine-year-old Shapovalov can be seen posing next to Nadal, but the Canadian up-and-comer said on Friday he doesn't remember the picture being taken.

On Friday he beat France's Adrian Mannarino 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 to secure his semi final spot against Zverev. He has everything to become a great player. Very rarely, except maybe when Andy, Novak and Rafa (Nadal) were coming up.

Haase, who hit 17 winners, made a late charge and forced a second-set tiebreak before Federer stymied the challenge to win the match.

Buoyed by a captivated, rowdy Montreal night session crowd, Shapovalov found his way back into the match in the second set.

Polansky earned a stay of execution after holding serve in the sixth game to make it 5-1, but Federer raced into the next round with a comfortable hold, finishing with an emphatic overhead smash.

Germany's top player echoed those sentiments in press, elaborating on what he felt could be the beginning of a solid rivalry. "Both things combined, two major factors in a beginning of a match, I was able to get into the match better. But I'll keep working hard and hopefully we could start a little bit of a rivalry".

Notably, Haase has had a good run in the tournament, beating the likes of Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Grigor Dimitrov en route to his maiden Masters 1000 semi-final.

"I think those young players don't quite know what to expect, and (neither) do I, because nobody quite knows", said Federer. I came back really fast, from zero to 60 in eight months. I was insecure. I had a lot of problems with other injuries after.

"Then this kind of eats you up inside mentally", he said. "So it's a dream come true for me this week". I haven't played him that much yet. My game is better.

In Saturday's semifinal, Shapovalov will meet the victor of Friday's late match between fourth-seeded German Alexander Zverev and Kevin Anderson of South Africa.

2016 was undoubtedly Shapovalov's finest year in the ITF juniors circuit as he won the Wimbledon's Boys' Singles title by defeating Australian Alex De Minaur in the final despite dropping the first set.